Jackie Myers wrote: "...A few years ago, a woman was paddling a Scupper, I think, at the mouth of the Russian river when a great white came up from beneath and knocked her out of the kayak. There were witnesses to this event. She was unharmed. I don't think you can rule out any length as fishing boats have been attacked by sharks. The thing to keep in mind is that *any* attack is so rare an occurrence, scientists can't establish a pattern to warn you about what creates a threat." Just as well that attacks are so rare that it's hard to draw conclusions. If this incident involved an Ocean Kayak Scupper, that's 4.5 metres long. The seals around here get up to around 2 metres long. You would think a shark attacking a larger vessel is not mistaking the boat for a seal meal. With a fishing vessel, maybe the shark is getting excited by berley and bait, and biting at the source. Some of the nicest paddling trips take in seal colonies, and going over wearing a mask and watching the seals swim around is fun. But I get a mild dose of anxiety around seal colonies, you never know what might be hunting them. I have been approached a couple of times by this mob: http://www.sharkshield.com/index.php, wanting to survey sea kayakers. When I mentioned a donation to the sea kayak club in return for our assistance with their market research, I didn't hear back. Shark repellent! Cheers, Peter Treby *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Jul 27 2005 - 05:46:41 PDT
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